2010-09-25 09-54-50 Namibia Khomas Nauchas

Spreetshoogte Pass ( af, Spreetshoogtepas, literally en, Spreeth's Peak Pass) is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

in central Namibia, connecting the Namib Desert with the

Khomas Highland Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative unit. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superior tran ...

by traversing the

Great Escarpment The Great Escarpment is a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateauAtlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town downward in the directio ...

, a geological feature of much of the southern part of the African continent. With gradients between 1:4.5 and 1:6 it is the steepest pass in Namibia, as well as the one straddling the biggest elevation difference, descending almost within of road. The top of the pass features a rest place from which there are views into the adjacent Namib. The pass was erected during World War II by farmer Nicolaas Spreeth, after whom it is named. Spreeth owned the farm ''Ubib'' just at the foot of the escarpment. Whenever goods were delivered to his farm they would be dropped at a bus stop at farm ''Namibgrens'' ( en, Namib border) on top of the mountain. To gather them the choice was to either travel via Remhoogte Pass approximately southwards, or to trek uphill along existing Zebra paths. Spreeth decided to do the latter, fortifying the path with quartzite rocks whenever he undertook the journey. Soon the bright white rocks formed a line that could be spotted from a distance. Spreeth even catered for motor vehicles (not very strong at that time), placing long, flat patches of road ahead of every steep ascent. He built the pass literally with his own hands. To flatten obstacles he used

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

. The pass today is part of the district road D1275 from Rehoboth to

Solitaire Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself, usually with cards, but also with dominoes. The term "solitaire" is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout tiles, pegs or stones. These game ...

, passable only for vehicles without trailers. Trucks and caravans are forbidden to use it. Even trucks and graders of Namibia's Roads Authority only drive uphill when maintaining this stretch of road, and return via the Remhoogte Pass nearby, in order to keep the danger of failing brakes to a minimum.

References

{{coord, 23, 38, 00, S, 16, 11, 00, E, region:NA-HA_type:landmark, display=title Khomas Region Great Escarpment, Southern Africa Mountain passes of Namibia